Anyone For Tennis?

Tennis player of note, turned fashion designer Teddy Tinling was responsible for some of Wimbledon’s most memorable fashion from the 1940’s through to the 1960’s.  Perhaps most controversial were American tennis star, Gertrude Moran’s lace trimmed knickers worn at Wimbledon in 1949.  For Gertrude, Tinling designed a short white dress with a pair of lace- trimmed panties.  A media storm ensued with photographers clambering for shots of Gertrude’s bottom.  Tinling’s place in tennis fashion history was set and the naughty knickers afforded Gertrude the nickname  “Gorgeous Gussy”.

In 1950, Tinling commissioned the British Eyewear designer Oliver Goldsmith to create a pair of sunglasses to accompany one of his on court outfits.  The resultant tennis racket sunglasses were an overnight success and today form part of one of the only sunglass collections in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  We can have an exact replica of these babies made through Claire Goldsmith the great granddaughter of the founder of Oliver Goldsmith.  Now, anyone for a game of tennis in this weather?

Dita - Here and Going Fast

We announced the arrival of new Dita in store last Saturday by placing our blackboard out on Teed St.   …and that was the start of it.  That morning we met a man who will only wear Dita sunglasses and has previously purchased them from Sydney and L.A.  We met a woman who bought the “Cover” for her daughter who has apparently been trying to find a Dita retailer in Auckland for months. We sold a “Grand Reserve” to a wonderful client who has worn contact lenses for years and never wanted to wear glasses until, that is, he saw the “Dita” last Saturday morning. All this attention got us very excited, wondering if this was recognition “finally” of Vanessa’s very neat blackboard handwriting (which has taken a lot of practice).  But the steady stream of Dita enquiries since Saturday, suggests this buzz is less about blackboards.  Dita has been around since 1996 and is rapidly growing in popularity as a superior range of frames and sunglasses for those seeking an alternative to licensed brands… one of the company’s original missions.  All Dita frames and sunglasses are designed in LA and hand made in Japan, where indeed, it seems most of the world’s quality eyewear is made these days.    Dita remains true to its origins, no mass advertising campaigns, no superstar endorsement deals … but this hasn’t stopped it landing on the faces of hundreds of the world’s “A” listers... Brad Pitt, David Beckham, Dita Von Teese, Lenny Kravitz and Christina Aguilera, not to mention, causing a quite a stir in Teed St! 

Is it funnier with one or two?

Continuing on with our comedic focus, Michael says that the Two Ronnies had a big influence on his choice of career path.  Here’s some retro telly we wouldn’t mind seeing again. 

 

Martin & Martin's Proverbial Spectacles

New models from Martin & Martin have just arrived from Germany. The two Martins have perfected the art of harmonious colour pairings in what has to be one of the world’s finest acetate collections ….tort with sea blue, dusky red with black, green tort with raisin. An old German proverb says “If the eye does not want to see, neither light nor glasses will help” but at MHPE we say “Pop on ya Martin & Martin’s and see anything you jolly well want”.